LLVM Cookbook

LLVM Cookbook is published by Packt Publishing in June 2015. This book has 284 pages in English, ISBN-13 978-1785285981.

LLVM is a compiler framework with libraries that provides a modern source-and target-independent optimizer, along with a code generator.

This book not only explains the effective use of the compiler infrastructure that LLVM provides, but also helps you implement it in one of your projects. You start with a simple task to get you up-and-running with LLVM, followed by learning the process of writing a frontend for a language, which includes writing a lexer, a parser, and generating IR code. You will then see how to implement optimizations at different levels, generate target-independent code, and then map this generated code to a backend. Finally, you will look into the functionalities that the LLVM infrastructure provides, such as exception handling, LLVM Utility Passes, using sanitizers, the garbage collector, and how we can use these in our projects.

Who This Book Is For

The book is for compiler programmers who are familiar with concepts of compilers and want to indulge in understanding, exploring, and using LLVM infrastructure in a meaningful way in their work.

This book is also for programmers who are not directly involved in compiler projects but are often involved in development phases where they write thousands of lines of code. With knowledge of how compilers work, they will be able to code in an optimal way and improve performance with clean code.

What You Will Learn

Introduction to LLVM modular design and LLVM tools

Write a frontend for a language

Add JIT support and use frontends for different languages

Learn about the LLVM Pass infrastructure and the LLVM Pass Manager

Create analyses and transform optimization passes

Build a LLVM TOY backend from scratch

Optimize the code at SelectionDAG level and allocate registers to variables